Transcribed from Fox News, "The Kelly File"
Topic:
Aisha Harris: Santa Claus should not be a white man anymore
Megyn Kelly (MK): I want to get to this other topic. So, in Slate, they have a piece, "Santa Claus Should Not be a White Man Any More." And when I saw this headline, I kind of laughed, and I said, this is so ridiculous. Yet another person claiming it's racist to have a white Santa.
And by the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white, but this person is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa. Santa is what he is. And just so you know, we're debating this because someone wrote about it, kids.
When I read the piece, the author, she's African American, and she seemed to have real pain having grown up with this image of a white Santa, and [Aisha] speaks about it kind of honestly saying "I didn't really understand why that had to be"
Jedediah Bila (JB): Yeah, she wants Santa to be inclusive, and I had the same reaction and initially I was thinking "Oh this is more politically correct nonsense, this is hypersensitivity in our culture," and then you read the piece and you really walk through the steps with her -- I think it's a tribute to her writing -- and you realize if you were a young kid and you were African American, and your Santa Claus was white, it would affect you when you went to school... maybe you wouldn't feel that you weren't part of that tradition. She suggests that a penguin should be Santa
MK: That's where she goes off the rails
JB: I think that's interesting though to have an animal which is something that kids love, sort of brings that cartoonish component into it, and I think that makes all kids feel welcome in the process. So I see where she was going with that.
MK: No, no, no it doesn't. It makes all birds feel welcome. So her name is Aisha Harris. I've give her her due on where she was going with it.
But just because it makes you feel uncomfortable, doesn't mean it has to change. Jesus was a white man too, I mean he was a historical figure, which is a verifiable fact -- as is Santa. I just want the kids watching to know that.
But my point is, how do you just revise it in the middle of the legacy of the story, and change Santa from white to black?
Monica Crowley (MC): Yeah, I mean, you can't. First of all, the penguin would never work Megyn, because a penguin cannot lug all of those gifts around the world... that's number one, just want to be clear
MK: He [penguins] are from the South Pole, Santa is from the North (points up)... all of his stuff is up there
MC: You're absolutely right. Santa Claus is based on Saint Nicholas, an actual person, a Greek bishop, and was a white man
MK: Look at him, how could he be alienating?! How cute is he, right?
MC: So, you can't take facts then try to change them to fit some sort of a political agenda or a sensitivity agenda
Bernard Whitman: I think it's fine for Santa to be represented as a traditional white man, but I also think that if people want to represent him as an African American male or Latino, or Asian or drag queen...I think our social fabric can take the elasticity of Chris Cringle. I don't think that a society is going to break up... people respond in different ways
MK: Okay, okay, I get it. Thank you panel